Unemployment is high, jobs are scarce and competition is fierce. After resumZs have been written, cover letters polished and interviews practiced, the question remains–what’s the job market like for this year’s graduates?

According to Job Outlook 2003, an annual survey conducted by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), this year’s graduates will have a harder time finding jobs in comparison to previous years. The job market has varied from “excellent” to “good” to “fair” in only two years. The demand for jobs clearly outweighs the supply, as students compete in pounding the pavement to be heard–and get hired.

Although full-time job opportunities are limited, internship and cooperative education program (co-op) opportunities still abound in giving students practical experience in their industry. Internships, once rated seventh, now take the top spot as the most important place in finding a job.

Saint Louis University graduates have shown resilience despite the sluggish economy and weak job market. A survey conducted by Career Services shows that 92 percent of last year’s graduates are satisfactorily occupied, a statistic that has remained steady in the last few years. Many have found jobs, while some have gone on to graduate school. A small percentage of people have delayed their job search to pursue other activities, such as volunteer work, travel or family duties.

Kathy Day, director of Career Services, notes a slight change in the number of students going to graduate school, rising from 24 percent to 27 percent in 2001-2002, which may indicate some job-market strains.

Eight percent of the graduates surveyed indicated they were unemployed and still looking, although that statistic could be less, in reality. Day says these graduates may have responded early during the survey process and may have already found employment later on. The survey remains open only for six months; graduates usually don’t notify Career Services when they find employment after that time.

Although students in certain professional degrees will likely end up employed in their chosen fields (such as accounting, nursing and engineering), business and liberal- arts students can have varied job tracks, with the diverse opportunities available to them. Day says no doors are closed, if students are willing to consider various possibilities.

“There is no one magic major as a key to success,” she said. “There are a lot of paths that you can take to get to the same goal.”

Day encourages students to consider the government and nonprofit sectors, which hold a lot of promise.

Debbie Opich, internship coordinator for the business school, says that 80 percent of jobs are found through successful networking. “There is a hidden job market that students don’t know how to tap into,” she said. “The market is still abundant to all of us, but they’re just not that obvious.”

“There are jobs out there,” she said. “They’re just finding them in different ways.”

Students’ views on the current job market conditions vary from bleak to hopeful.

Yvonne Chen, a senior in finance, wasn’t worried about the job market, since she was planning on going to graduate school. She discovered an internship in the stocks industry, through networking. After her one-year internship program, her employer offered her a full-time job as a stock broker.

“Internships really help,” Chen said. “I think they want to hire interns first because they want to know the quality of your performance before hiring full-time.”

Christy Chase, a senior studying communication and psychology, said she gets conflicting views on the current job market from her colleagues and friends. While some say that she will get a job, others tell her it’s going to be a challenge. Some of last year’s graduates have told her that they haven’t found entry-level jobs yet.

Chase is cautiously optimistic.

“I think the jobs are out there for anyone, but it’s not going to be the ideal job coming out of college,” she said.